Friday, January 31, 2014

Rallying today against Fast Track in Gaithersburg, Md., outside Rep. John Delaney's office are Teamsters, CWA and UFCW members, the Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO, Sierra Club, Food & Water Watch, Friends of the Earth and Flush the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

(UPDATES second graf with additional information about Teamster rallies.)

Teamsters, techies and tens of thousands of people took action today to oppose a Fast Track bill that would grease the Congressional skids for so-called 'trade deals' like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). More than 50 rallies, teach-ins and news conferences are being held on the North American continent, from Edmonton, Canada, to Mexico City. By mid-afternoon, social media drove more than 12,000 phone calls and hundreds of thousands of emails to the U.S. Congress.

Teamsters took their low-tech boots to the ground at rallies throughout the country. Our brothers and sisters at Teamsters Local 639 rallied against Fast Track in the cold today in front of Democratic Rep. John Delaney's office in Gaithersburg, Md., while a huge crowd yelling 'No Fast Track' was reported outside Congressman Joe Crowley's office in Queens. Members of Teamsters Local 232 in Portland, Ore., rallied outside the Smith Center before leafletting and meeting with U.S. representatives. Teamsters rallied from Local 597 Montpelier, Vt., Local 745 in Dallas and Local 769 in Miami.

Teamsters from Local 223 at an anti-Fast Track rally today in Portland, Ore.

Tens of thousands who couldn't rally called Congress. A staffer for a member of Congress complained his boss was getting an inordinate number of phone calls from people telling him to oppose Fast Track (fortunately, he already does). Tens of thousands more Fast Track opponents sent emails and signed petitions to their representatives in Congress.

Teamsters Local 200 President Tom Bennett and Darrick Jordan, Local 200 business agent and TNBC Central Regional chairman, calling Congress in Teamster Day of Action to Stop Fast Track.

Though there is little news coverage of Fast Track or the TPP, people are clearly waking up to the dangers of so-called 'trade deals' that lower wages, send jobs overseas, empower corporations, despoil the environment, increase violence and weaken food safety. A poll this week showed American voters oppose Fast Track by a 2-to-1 margin. Republican voters are especially opposed to Fast Track, with 87 percent against it and only 8 percent in favor.

More than 120 organizations that agree on little else are working together for the first time to stop Fast Track, from reddit and Imgur to Ben & Jerry's to the AFL-CIO. Both right-wing pundit Laura Ingraham and Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa are speaking out against the bill. The Wall Street Journal reports today on the momentum gathering against Fast Track:

A group founded by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean says in 12 hours it gathered nearly 30,000 electronic signatures for its petition asking Ms. Pelosi (D., Calif.) to voice opposition to the trade legislation. Another progressive group, known as Credo Action, said it has 53,117 electronic signatures since its own similar petition launched Thursday.

Delegates from the three Nafta countries met in Mexico City to assess the impact of that 20-year-old trade deal. Released today was a joint declaration by the tri-national group, including labor, women, farmers, environmentalists and human rights advocates. Their conclusion:

Reading fliers at Local 270.

...the
benefits of NAFTA were exaggerated to sell the agreement to the public. The
promises made were not fulfilled, on the contrary, we have seen a rise in
inequality, impoverishment of the vast majority of the population, loss of
employment, job insecurity, environmental degradation, deterioration of social
cohesion and increased violence.

We expect to hear more from our brothers and sister Teamsters who are heading out to rallies later today and tomorrow. The success of today's actions is likely to inspire organizers to extend the mobilization against Fast Track. Teamsters have no intention of quitting this fight until it's over!

Rich people really are selfish and don't care about other people, according to political scientists who studied the One Percent. Their research answers the question of why our government isn't doing what we want it to do. (It's doing what sociopathic billionaires want it to do.)

The researchers assumed the wealthy have an outsize influence on politics (we know that already). Then they looked at their political preferences. What they found was disturbing.

... they are extremely active politically and ... they are much more conservative than the American public as a whole with respect to important policies concerning taxation, economic regulation, and especially social welfare programs. Variation within this wealthy group suggests that the top one-tenth of 1 percent of wealth-holders (people with $40 million or more in net worth) may tend to hold still more conservative views that are even more distinct from those of the general public. (Emphasis added.)

The researchers found, for example, that the top One Percent oppose anything that will help middle-class and working-class Americans.

Jamelle Bouie at the Daily Beast tells us most of the One Percent oppose a government jobs program, universal health insurance and expanded worker training program.

What the rich do support, however, are policies that would shift burdens to individuals, or introduce some nebulous “competition” into public goods. That includes charter schools (90 percent support), vouchers (55 percent), Social Security privatization (55 percent), and merit pay for teachers (93 percent).

If this agenda looks familiar, it’s because it’s basically identical to the one pushed by “centrist” deficit hawks in Washington, who have devoted themselves to the consensus positions of business and other economic elites.

Scientists also find rich people have less compassion for others. In one study, people with less income and education felt more compassion for cancer patients shown in a video than did people with more income and education, according to Scientific American.

...less affluent individuals are more likely to report feeling compassion towards others on a regular basis. For example, they are more likely to agree with statements such as, “I often notice people who need help,” and “It’s important to take care of people who are vulnerable.”

Two Berkeley psychologists watched traffic behavior at a busy intersection and discovered what many Teamsters already know:

They found that luxury car drivers were more likely to cut off other motorists instead of waiting for their turn at the intersection. This was true for both men and women upper-class drivers, regardless of the time of day or the amount of traffic at the intersection. In a different study they found that luxury car drivers were also more likely to speed past a pedestrian trying to use a crosswalk, even after making eye contact with the pedestrian.

Can't say we're surprised. The scientists are describing the entitled jerks -- the Kochs, the DeVoses, the Sheldon Adelsons -- buying off politicians to pass anti-worker laws in the states and cut Social Security, unemployment benefits and food stamps at the federal level.

Dale Schultz is a rare bird: a reasonable Republican in Wisconsin's state Legislature.

So of course he's retiring.

In 2011, Schultz was the only Senate Republican to vote against job-killer Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's Act 10, which sparked the 2011 Wisconsin protests. Schultz said he intended to offer a compromise amendment to the bill, but Walker misled him into leaving the Senate chamber. (No shock there.)

The Daily Pagepraised Schultz recently for fighting attempts to eradicate Wisconsin's public school system, commenting,

His affability, his seriousness about crafting good public policy and his sense that his job is to represent his constituents, not out-of-state business interests, puts Schultz badly out of step.

And in a line that should be carved in stone over every statehouse door, Schultz said,

"When some think tank comes up with the legislation and tells you not to fool with it, why are you even a legislator anymore?" he asks. "You just sit there and take votes, and you're kind of a feudal serf for folks with a lot of money."

Sadly, that describes a lot of our state lawmakers these days. Want to find out if your state legislator is a feudal serf for some rich guy? Check it out at the ALECExposed website here.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Demos Demopoulos, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 553,denouncing Fast Track at a New York press conference last week.

Members of Congress are starting to listen to the thousands of Teamsters who are calling, emailing, rallying and telling them face-to-face: Vote NO on Fast Track.

Fast Track is a bill that would prevent Congress from vetting every detail of trade deals (like the TPP) to make sure they benefit American workers and not multinational corporations. America has lost 60,000 factories over the past 13 years, so we clearly don't need to be signing any more of these so-called 'free-trade' agreements.

Teamsters and allies such as the Citizens Trade Campaign, CWA and the Sierra Club are leading a grass-roots campaign to stop Fast Track. Over the past few weeks, Teamsters and allies made tens of thousands of telephone calls and sent even more emails to their representatives in Congress. It's working, but we can't stop now.

Tomorrow is a Teamsters Day of Action to call your member of Congress to vote no on Fast Track. The number is 1-888-979-9806. You'll hear a message that tells you exactly what to do. Can't call? Send an email. Just click here for a sample message to send to your representative in Congress. Your local may be participating in one of dozens of nationwide rallies tomorrow to oppose Fast Track, so contact your local or check here to see if there's one near you.

Opposition to Fast Track is building in the Senate, as Majority Leader Harry Reid said he will not bring it to the floor. The real battle right now is in the House, where Speaker John Boehner will work to pass Fast Track if he can get the votes. It's important to spread the word that 87 percent of Republican voters (a group Bohener has to be concerned about) oppose Fast Track, according to a poll released yesterday.

Here's more good news. As Politico reported, opposition to Fast Track is growing among Democrats:

...On Monday, 550 labor, environmental and consumer advocacy groups – including the United Autoworkers, which has lent Obama critical backing on previous free trade pacts such as the South Korea deal – sent a letter to Congress urging them to reject the fast-track bill.

The fight is far, far from over. What the big corporations want from Congress, the big corporations generally get. Supporters of Fast Track will likely come up with some sort of cosmetic improvement, like the U.S.-Colombia Labor Action Plan. The LAP fig leaf was supposed to prevent continued murders of union leaders in Colombia after the so-called free-trade deal was ratified. It didn't. Colombian union leader Luis Marin Rolong Ever was murdered in cold blood by unknown gunmen on January 4. His killer may never be punished.

The South Korea Free Trade deal won UAW support because it was supposed to increase U.S. exports of automobiles. It didn't. The U.S. sold hardly any automobiles to S. Korea while we're being flooded with Kias and Hyundais.

Teamsters Speak Out at Lobby Day in Olympia teamster.org ...Correctional employees teamed up with taxi cab operators, warehouse workers, nurses, cooks and county and city employees for dozens of meetings with legislators...Whitney Foods Workers Join Teamsters Local 703 teamster.org ...Chicago distribution workers with Whitney Foods are now members of Teamsters Local 703 after the company voluntarily recognized its employees’ right to join the union last fall...Collective Bargaining: How to Negotiate Strong Teamster Contracts teamster.org ...The IBT Training and Development Department is conducting a Teamsters Leadership Academy on collective bargaining, March 11-14, 2014...Allegiant Air Pilots to Meet with Investors, Analysts to Discuss Operating, Safety Concerns teamster.org "...the major service disruptions over the last several months, ranging from multiple fleet shutdowns, chronic staffing and equipment shortages, significant ramp-up in 3rd party contracting for scheduled flights and sub-servicing and the shutdown of the company’s training department, all flow from the short-sighted decisions being made at the top.”...New poll shows voters overwhelmingly oppose Fast Track TeamsterNation ...Voters by a 2-to-1 margin oppose Fast Track authority to pass trade deals, according to a new poll by Hart Research released today...Reid Deals Body Blow to Obama on Trade Wall Street Journal ...Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid broke publicly with the White House Wednesday on trade policy, instantly imperiling two major international trade deals...Even Companies Need to Know More about Fast Track, TPP teamster.org ...Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) raised the issue of trade provisions that would allow foreign companies to sue governments before international tribunalsFight back against currency manipulation McClatchy ...we need to increase sales of goods and services made in the United States, which means expanding exports, reducing imports and shrinking our trade deficit. Currency manipulation, by about 20 countries (mostly in Asia), is the single most important cause of our trade deficit...Asian Shares Slump After Fed Action Wall Street Journal ...Market turmoil returned to Asia Thursday, with Japanese stocks at one point slumping more than 3%, after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would scale back further on its stimulus measures...Is A New Economic Crisis At Hand? TripleCrisis ...AT the end of last week, several developing countries saw sharp falls in their currency as well as stock market values, prompting the question of whether it is the start of a wider economic crisis. The sell-off in emerging economies also spilled over to the American and European stock markets, thus causing global turmoil...K Street's Fortunes Decline for Third Year OpenSecrets ...For the third straight year, spending on K Street is down, with only a handful of industries spending more on lobbying in 2013 than they did in 2012...Fortune 50 CEO pay vs. our salaries CNN Money ...With a staggering total compensation package of $378 million for 2011, Apple's Tim Cook takes the cake for the highest Fortune 50 CEO-to-typical-worker pay ratio. Indeed, it takes 6,258 typical Apple worker salaries to match Cook's total pay...The Stealth Privatization of Pennsylvania's Bridges TruthOut ...Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett's administration has decided to sign a 40-year contract to privatize the state's crumbling bridges, but there has been little to no media coverage of the deal and what it will mean for two generations of Pennsylvanians...Fun With Scary Pension Numbers in Chicago Center for Economic Policy and Research ...The Chicago Tribune headlined a news story: "Chicago pension tab: $18,596 for every man, woman, child." That's pretty scary. Fortunately my Chicago public school teachers taught me about fractions and denominators. That is what is missing here. The key point is that Chicago does not have to pay this money tomorrow or even over the next year. This is a liability over the next 30 years...

SHELDON ADELSON. Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson dealt Gov. Scott Walker $250,000 on March 30. In 2012 "Adelson told Forbes Magazine that as long very wealthy people could buy elections, "I’m going to do it.

DIANE HENDRICKS. Gov. Scott Walker was caught on camera telling Beloit billionaire Diane Hendricks his strategy was to "Divide and Conquer" WI workers. A year later, she wrote Gov. Walker a $500,000 check on the same day Gov. Walker's campaign moved money over to this criminal defense fund.

Read about all of them. You may want to wait until you're about to take a shower, though.

Voters by a 2-to-1 margin oppose Fast Track authority to pass trade deals, according to a new poll by Hart Research released today.

By a 62 percent to 28 percent, voters are against Fast Track, which would force Congress to make an up-or-down vote on trade deals, according to Guy Molyneux, a partner with Hart who presented the findings on a conference call with reporters. The poll results, said Molyneux,

...would set off alarm bells in any campaign in the country.

Republican voters are especially opposed to Fast Track, with 87 percent against it and only 8 percent in favor. That is significant since the bill is likely to move first in the House, which has a Republican majority.

Molyneux said the public is increasingly concerned about and opposed to trade deals. By a 2-to-1 ratio, Democrats, Republicans and Independents all think trade deals hurt more than help the country. And voters' top priority is preventing U.S. jobs from going overseas.

Fast Track elicits intense opposition from 43 percent of voters, who say they are less likely to vote for a member of Congress who supports it. According to Hart,

Demographically, opposition is very broad, with no more than one-third of voters in any region of the country or in any age cohort favoring fast track.

And in more great news for opponents of job-killing trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he opposes legislation to speed approval of trade deal. Bloomberg News reported,

“I’m against fast track,” Reid told reporters in Washington today. Asked whether he would block a floor vote on such a measure, he said, “We’ll see.” He said the Obama administration and top Senate Democrats are aware of his position.

“Everyone would be well-advised just to not push this right now,” said Reid, a Nevada Democrat.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Pete Seeger's death on Monday at the age of 94 is being mourned by Teamsters and union members throughout the world. Seeger supported working people, marching and singing at hundreds of union rallies. He inspired the civil rights movement, rewriting and popularizing 'We Shall Overcome' and other favorites such as 'If I Had a Hammer,' 'Jacob's Ladder,' 'Solidarity Forever,' 'Keep Your Eyes on the Prize' and 'We Shall Not Be Moved.'

John Hasley, a retired Teamster carhauler and member of Local 710, saw Seeger many times at Farm Aid, where he volunteered and Seeger performed for years. Hasley took this photo of Seeger a few years ago at the benefit:

Pete Seeger (was) a 20th-century troubadour who inspired and led a renaissance of folk music in the United States with his trademark five-string banjo and songs of love, peace, brotherhood, work and protest...

USA Todayinterviewed Henry Foner, former president of the fur, leather and machine workers union, about Seeger:

"Pete has always had an interest in the labor movement and has been associated with unions. Whenever there was a problem that a union had, Pete was always available," Foner said.

He was sentenced to a year in prison for his testimony before the House Un-American Affairs Committee in 1955. The conviction for contempt was overturned. This is what he said:

I have sung for Americans of every political persuasion, and I am proud that I never refuse to sing to an audience, no matter what religion or color of their skin, or situation in life. I have sung in hobo jungles, and I have sung for the Rockefellers, and I am proud that I have never refused to sing for anybody. That is the only answer I can give along that line... I have never done anything of any conspiratorial nature. . . . I love my country very deeply.

For a terrific collection of clips and anecdotes, check out Mother Joneshere.

Nervous billionaire Tom Perkins compared American populists to Nazis and billionaires to their Jewish victims in a recent letter to The Wall Street Journal.

Seriously.

Here's what he wrote:

I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its "one percent," namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the "rich."...This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendant "progressive" radicalism unthinkable now?

Perkins later apologized once he realized he'd gone too far. Even the pro-business Bloomberg News called his letter an 'unhinged Nazi rant.'

Another billionaire, Steve Schwarzman, compared a plan to deprive hedge fund managers of a tax loophole to Hitler invading Poland.

Columnist Paul Krugman detects something else behind the billionaires' insecurity: a sense that they really don't deserve all their wealth and privilege.

I also suspect that today's Masters of the Universe are insecure about the nature of their success. We're not talking captains of industry here, men who make stuff. We are, instead, talking about wheeler-dealers, men who push money around and get rich by skimming some off the top as it sloshes by. They may boast that they are job creators, the people who make the economy work, but are they really adding value? Many of us doubt it - and so, I suspect, do some of the wealthy themselves, a form of self-doubt that causes them to lash out even more furiously at their critics.

Perkins and Schwartzman aren't the only people to fear the billionaires' relentless drive to impoverish workers will result in a violent backlash. The development charity Oxfam recently reported that 85 rich people control more wealth than the poorest half of the world. Oxfam, reported The Guardian,

...fears this concentration of economic resources is threatening political stability and driving up social tensions.

New York Magazine writer Jessica Pressler in the summer of 2012 rode around the Sag Harbor estate of billionaire Jeff Greene in his dune buggy. He showed her his boats, his vast forest of scrubby pine and his private beach. At one point he throttled the engine and paused:

Greene gazes across the bay at the multi-million-dollar houses peeking from behind the trees. I assume he’s quietly contemplating acquiring even more of the shoreline, but then he says something surprising. “If somebody wanted to go after a rich person,” he observes, “they have got their pick of the litter out here.”

It’s strange to imagine someone like Greene, who counts Mike Tyson as a close friend, and who has a streak that caused the L.A. party girls to refer to him as “Mean Jeff Greene,” feeling vulnerable. It’s hard to think of any superrich person as vulnerable, just as it’s hard to think that a bear with outstretched claws and giant teeth is more afraid than you are. But over the past few months, it’s become clear that rich people are very, very afraid.

Greene believes America's huge class of impoverished people will rise up someday and take over the country. He thinks rich people have a vested interest in making sure that doesn't happen by paying a few more taxes to give poor kids education, health care and enough to eat.

He had a few words for the Koch brothers, as well:

“I see David Koch a lot of the time. His policies are ridiculous. I don’t think he’s ever been to one of these schools where they have a rolling cart, where one computer has to go to different classrooms, and it can make so much difference, a $700 computer! I don’t think these guys realize, this is what they’re cutting off? To say to those kids, ‘Too bad, every man for himself’?”

Thousands of Teamsters are packing the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg today to oppose a paycheck deception bill that would put the state on a path to right-to-work-for-less. They are joined by steelworkers, firefighters, EMTs, police officers, electricians, lunch aides -- you name it.

The Teamsters' good friend Brett Banditelli is tweeting that the highly charged rally isby far the biggest event of 2014. People are stacked up outside, locked out in the cold, as the doors were locked.

"Why do billionaires always try to kill unions when its 0 degrees outside?," asks Brother Banditelli, and he has a point. It's the usual suspects -- sociopath billionaires like the Koch brothers -- who are throwing lots and lots of cash at this anti-worker legislation.

Pennsylvania Conference of Teamsters President William Hamilton is speaking to the crowd, along with Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale and Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder. Here's what Hamilton is telling Pennsylvania Teamsters about the legislation:

There is no doubt that the passage of HB 1507 dubbed the “Paycheck Protection Bill” would mean that Pennsylvania would move to become the next right-to-work state. The Teamsters can not be silent on this issue. We firmly believe this bill will be moving very quickly, especially with the significant resources pouring into Pennsylvania from anti-union billionaire contributors that are backing this assault on labor. This bill is strictly designed to bust labor unions and it is being financed by billionaires so they can increase their pocketbooks off the sweat of the hardworking men in women of this great Commonwealth.

The bill would ban public employees from negotiating payroll deduction for union dues, fair share fees, and voluntary political contributions. It attacks school teachers, corrections officers and caregivers. Firefighters and police officers are exempted, but they know they'll be next if the bill passes.

A firefighter stood up before the crowd and said,

We are united to stop the the attacks on Pennsylvania unions.

A police officer agreed:

I am proud to stand with the public sector and private sector who are united.

According to the AFL-CIO, the legislation silences union members' voices to advocate for jobs, improved educational opportunities, quality care for older citizens the sick and disabled and ensuring our communities are safe and protected.

The legislation threatens all workers’ ability to advocate for improved working conditions and safer jobs. Workers attending the press conference will be talking to their State Representatives and State Senators urging them to oppose this legislation and any proposals that silence or weaken the voices of working men and women.

First Student School Bus Workers Join Teamsters Local 332 Drive Up Standards ...School bus workers with First Student in Flint, Mich., have voted overwhelmingly in favor of representation by Teamsters Local 332...Growing Film Industry Brought Record $358M to Illinois in 2013 Teamsters Joint Council 25 ...Illinois' Gov. Pat Quinn visits set of 'Chicago Fire,' thanks Teamsters for commitment to industry...Pete Seeger, Songwriter and Champion of Folk Music, Dies at 94 New York Times ...He toured the world, performing and collecting folk songs, in 1963, and returned to serenade civil rights advocates, who had made a rallying song of his “We Shall Overcome.”...Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Will Be Holding a Press Conference and a Lobby Day on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 to Urge State Legislators to Oppose Bills that Would Silence the Voice of Pennsylvania’s Working Families Pennsylvania AFL-CIO ...The legislation threatens all workers’ ability to advocate for improved working conditions and safer jobs. Workers attending the press conference will be talking to their State Representatives and State Senators urging them to oppose this legislation and any proposals that silence or weaken the voices of working men and women...Life Is Worse In Right-To-Work States Economic Policy Institute ...According to Politico, 4 of the 5 best states to live in are non-right-to-work. In order, they are New Hampshire, Minnesota, Vermont, Utah, and Massachusetts. Right-to-work states account for 8 of the 10 worst states, and all 5 of the 5 worst states (in order, from 46th-50th: Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississsippi)...Tax-Free Gifts Quadrupled in US When Congress Raised Limit Bloomberg News ...Congress voted in December 2010 to let wealthy Americans make tax-free gifts of as much as $5 million, and the money flowed. U.S. taxpayers reported making $122 billion in nontaxable gifts on the returns they filed in 2012, more than four times the amount they made in each of the two previous years...In Global Trade, China Plays by Its Own Rules Epoch Times ...China continues to impose duties on U.S. grain oriented flat-rolled electrical steel, resulting in a $247 million decrease in exports from the United States to China, falling from $250 million to $3 million a year...Spy Agencies Tap Data Streaming From Phone Apps New York Times ...When a smartphone user opens Angry Birds, the popular game application, and starts slinging birds at chortling green pigs, spies could be lurking in the background to snatch data revealing the player’s location, age, sex and other personal information, according to secret British intelligence documents...

e New Jersey Turnpike Authority has scheduled a public hearing Tuesday on a plan to privatize toll collectors
on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. The Christie
administration contends it could save a significant amount of money, but
the unions representing toll collectors disagree.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority has scheduled a public hearing Tuesday on a plan to privatize toll collectors
on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. The Christie
administration contends it could save a significant amount of money, but
the unions representing toll collectors disagree.

The new face of food stamps: working-age Americans Associated Press ...In a first, working-age people now make up the majority in U.S. households that rely on food stamps — a switch from a few years ago, when children and the elderly were the main recipients...Killing the Economy Economic Populist ...John Williams writes that consumer inflation, if properly measured, is running around 9%, far above the 2% figure that is the Fed’s target and more in line with what consumers are actually experiencing. We have just had a 6.5% annual increase in the cost of a postage stamp...Justice Department Inquiry Takes Aim at Banks’ Business With Payday Lenders New York Times ...Federal prosecutors are scrutinizing whether banks have allowed businesses to siphon billions of dollars from consumers’ accounts...Rough Patch for Uber Service’s Challenge to Taxis New York Times ...Uber is being sued by its drivers, who say it is stealing their tips. Competitors are pressing it from all sides...Kellogg's Delivers Memphis a Slap in the Face Truthout ...this February, workers at the Memphis Kellogg cereal plant face the prospect of spending Black History Month on the picket line after the company locked them out...High court rules against steelworkers' claim Associated Press ...The Supreme Court says steelworkers do not have to be paid for time they spend putting on and taking off protective gear they wear on the job...NJ Moves to Privatize Toll Collectors New Jersey 101.5 Radio ...The New Jersey Turnpike Authority has scheduled a public hearing Tuesday on a plan to privatize toll collectors on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. The Christie administration contends it could save a significant amount of money, but the unions representing toll collectors disagree...

Monday, January 27, 2014

Joint Council 28 Black Teamsters United at the MLK Day march in Seattle

Dr. Martin Luther King is honored today for his leadership in the civil rights movement, but often overlooked was his fight for a fundamental change in America's economic system. In a 1967 speech at Riverside Baptist Church he said,

But one day, we must ask the question of whether an edifice which produces beggars must not be restructured and refurbished.

Today it is increasingly obvious that our system is rigged for the wealthy and against everyone else. Unions are at the vanguard of the battle to restructure that edifice to benefit working men and women.

On Jan. 20, Teamsters all over the country echoed Dr. King's call for change. To give just two examples, Joint Council 28 Black Teamsters United marched, as they do every year, at the MLK Day rally and march in Seattle. And Teamsters from Local 728 marched in Atlanta's annual Martin Luther King Day parade.

Local 728 Teamsters march in Atlanta

Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, writing in Alternet, argue Dr. King would have embraced the fight against the Trans-Pacific Partnership (which of course the Teamsters are deeply engaged in):

...the Trans-Pacific Partnership ... will destroy sovereignty, placing governments, even down to the local level, at the service of transnational corporations. Leaked Wikileaks documents from the TPP reveal that the US is the most extreme nation advocating for corporate power and neoliberal economies.

This week, the EU announced that it will delay negotiation of a key section, the Investor State Dispute Settlement, of the Atlantic version of the TPP known as TAFTA. They are concerned that giving corporations the power to sue governments for loss of expected profits will undermine their laws to protect the health of people and the planet and are seeking greater public input. Contrast that with a case that is going forward in Mora County, NM in which Shell Oil is suing a community over its fracking ban. If Shell is able to sue a community for loss of expected profits, that community would never be able to afford that and would have to change its law; and other communities will be afraid to enact laws in the public interest or to protect the planet.

Momentum is building to stop the TPP. Organizations from across the spectrum and across the continent are working together to stop the President from being given authority to Fast Track the TPP through Congress and to unite in a day of action. Visit StopFastTrack.org to join the Ten Days of Action to Stop Fast Track which culminates in a day of protest on January 31.

Here's numerical proof that a whole bunch of ordinary people are beating the big money behind ALEC.

ALEC, or the American Legislative Exchange Council, operated secretly for years. Its modus operandi was to treat state lawmakers to posh vacations where they met corporate donors who funded their political ambitions. Lawmakers repaid that largesse by filing the bills handed to them by ALEC's corporate sponsors.

Led by the Center for Media and Democracy, a battalion of citizens has been working to expose ALEC's work to lower wages, destroy unions, eradicate public education, weaken food safety standards and sell tobacco to children. The campaign was launched under the name ALEC Exposed.

Much as the Wicked Witch of the West melted when exposed to water, ALEC is melting away when exposed to public scrutiny. Here are the numbers:

390 state lawmakers have quit ALEC

23.6 percent, or nearly one in four, of corporate and nonprofit members dropped ALEC from July 2011 to August 2013

ALEC's projected budget deficit as of July 2013 was at least $1,379,902

Percentage increase in ALEC press mentions per day since ALECexposed launched: approximately 538%

The news isn't all good. ALEC is still managing to loot money from the public treasury, having used $224,5878 in taxpayer dollars to send lawmakers on their posh vacations. And ALEC is still receiving money from the Benedict Arnold Koch brothers -- $150,000 in the first half of 2013.

It's having some success, too, in eliciting special government favors for its members. Nineteen states enacted ALEC legislation that immunizes a singular ALEC member (Crown Holdings) from legal liability for asbestos claims.

ALEC is also operating off the IRS's radar screen. Though it's clearly a lobbying organization, ALEC claims it has spent nothing -- zip, zilch, nyet, nada -- on lobbying from 1973 to 2012. The good news is ALEC is worried about an IRS investigation. The Guardian reported last month

A letter ... from Alec's lawyer, Alan Dye, warns that "though we do not believe that any activity carried on by Alec is lobbying, the IRS could disagree". It also makes clear that major potential donors are holding back because they are anxious about Alec's tax status.

"Alec has been approached by donors who are willing to make sizable donations, but insist that the donations go to a section 501(c)(4) organization," Dye writes.

Teamsters at YRCW Approve Agreement Aimed At Saving 30,000 Jobs teamster.org ...Teamsters at YRCW approved this latest proposal by a vote of 12,267 to 6,314... YRC Wins Key Refinancing Ingredient With Teamsters Vote Bloomberg ...YRC Worldwide Inc. (YRCW) has the “key ingredient” to refinance $1.4 billion of debt and reduce the risk of bankruptcy after workers voted to accept labor concessions, Chief Executive Officer James Welch said...Report: Bucking trend, Wisconsin union membership grows LaCrosse Tribune ...Wisconsin’s union membership rate -- the percentage of wage and salary workers who belong to unions -- rose from 11.25 percent to 12.34 percent, the seventh biggest gain in the nation. This after 2012, when Wisconsin had the third largest decrease in the nation. The change came as a surprise to union leaders and academics alike...Don't fast track a polluters' bill of rights Friends of the Earth ...TPP and TTIP would allow foreign investors to seek awards of money damages from business-friendly tribunals in compensation for the cost of complying with environmental and consumer regulations -- even the “cost” of lost opportunities for future profits...FL Cheerleader: We Are Paid Less than $5/hr and Docked Pay if We Gain 5 lbs. Alternet ..."Raiderettes are required to attend all of the Raiders' preseason, regular season and postseason home football games," she says in the lawsuit. "They are also required to attend and participate in all practices, rehearsals, fittings, preparations, drills, photo sessions, meetings and workouts, as determined and directed by the Raiders." Raiderettes also have to attend other special events to represent the Raiders, without pay...Does America need unions? An ex-Wall Streeter says yes Los Angeles Times ...without unions, workers don't have the bargaining power necessary to stop employers from paying them as little as the market will allow...401(k) Breaches Undermining Retirement Security for Millions Portside ...A large and growing share of American workers are tapping their retirement savings accounts for non-retirement needs, raising broad questions about the effectiveness of one of the most important savings vehicles for old age...Snowden: The NSA is also engaged in industrial espionage Salon ...“If there is information at Siemens that they think would be beneficial to the national interests, not the national security, of the United States, they will go after that information and they’ll take it...”The Koch Party (opinion) New York Times ...Only a few weeks into this midterm election year, the right-wing political zeppelin is fully inflated with secret cash and is firing malicious falsehoods at supporters of health care reform...Iowa View: ALEC's strategy of secrecy is wrong for Iowa taxpayers DesMoines Register ... there are deceptive organizations with friendly names lurking around the Capitol in Des Moines and in other state capitols. Some of these organizations aren’t as friendly as they seem, and their agendas are not always what’s best for Iowa. One such organization is the American Legislative Exchange Council, commonly known as ALEC...W. Va. company ordered to remove tanks after spill Associated Press ...West Virginia's governor on Saturday ordered the company at the center of a chemical spill that tainted the state capital's water supply to remove all above-ground storage tanks from the Charleston operation...

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Wal-Mart lays off 2,300 Sam's Club workers USA Today ...The layoffs, which cut 2% of the membership club's employee count of about 116,000, mark the largest since 2010, when the Sam's Club unit laid off 10,000 workers as it moved to outsource food demonstrations at its stores.
Bill Durling, a spokesman at Sam's Club, says that a little less than half of the cuts were aimed at salaried assistant managers...Former Venture Capitalist Worth $8 Billion Compares Criticism Of Rich To Nazi Germany Buzzfeed ...Tom Perkins, a founder of the KPCB, compared the current wave of ostracism towards the uber-rich to attacks on Jewish people by the Nazis during World War II. Perkins, of course, is a member of the ultra-wealthy club, with an estimated net worth of $8 billion and ownership of a San Francisco penthouse he spent $9 million to construct.)...They’re Fast-Tracking the Future, TPP Style – But We Can Stop Them TradeReform ...TheWikiLeaks documents show that every other country in the negotiations stood against American intellectual property demands...Gender Wage Gap for Union Members Is Half the Size of Non-Union Workers' Wage Gap National Women's Law Center ...female union members earn over $200 per week more than women who are not represented by unions—an increase that represents a larger union premium than men receive...Why are US corporate profits so high? Because wages are so low Reuters ...Companies have been unable to raise prices much because of the economic recovery has been fragile. But they’ve still managed to boost profits beyond anything ever seen before because they’ve got away with employing as few workers as possible at as low a rate as possible...GDP By Industry for 2012 Economic Populist ...Finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing is an astounding 19.5% of GDP which is unchanged from before the recession. Real estate and rental and leasing by itself actually grew, whereas finance and insurance shrank their percentage of the GDP pie. Considering this sector was the cause of economic implosion, this is probably not a good thing to have it being almost 20% of the overall economy...Swarms of drones could be the next frontier in emergency response NBC News ...a group at Carnegie Mellon University ... is building a swarm of cheap, small flying helicopters that could come to the aid of officers across the country who find themselves facing off against suspects they can’t always see...Security Check Firm Said to Have Defrauded U.S. New York Times ...The company that conducted a background investigation on the contractor Edward J. Snowden fraudulently signed off on hundreds of thousands of incomplete security checks in recent years, the Justice Department said...The Federal Government Shouldn’t Directly Contribute To America’s Job-Quality Problem Economic Policy Institute ...far too many people working for private firms— but for the benefit of the federal government, with their wages ultimately paid by the taxpayers—are likely working for poverty wages. This is unacceptable; it is damaging to those workers and their families, and it hurts the economy by reducing demand for goods and services—currently a problem of crisis proportions...